circumnutate
Americanverb (used without object)
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of circumnutate
1875–80; circum- + nutate < Latin nūtātus, past participle of nūtāre to nod in assent, sway, totter
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
We may also conclude from these and the previous observations, that the seedlings of Phalaris in breaking through the surface of the soil circumnutate as much as the surrounding pressure will permit.
From The Power of Movement in Plants by Darwin, Charles
The lowest members of the vegetable series, the Thallogens, apparently circumnutate.
From The Power of Movement in Plants by Darwin, Charles
We may therefore infer that an old and only moderately sensitive leaf does not circumnutate plainly; but we shall soon see that it by no means follows that such a leaf is absolutely motionless.
From The Power of Movement in Plants by Darwin, Charles
That an arched hypocotyl or epicotyl, with the two legs fixed in the ground, should be able to circumnutate, seemed to us, until we had read Prof. Wiesner's observations, an inexplicable fact.
From The Power of Movement in Plants by Darwin, Charles
These taken together suffice to render it probable that all peduncles and sub-peduncles circumnutate whilst growing.
From The Power of Movement in Plants by Darwin, Charles
On the next day it circumnutated in a greater degree, describing four irregular ellipses, and by 3 P.M. had risen into a horizontal position.
From The Power of Movement in Plants by Darwin, Charles
Circumnutation of Hypocotyls and Epicotyls, when erect.—The hypocotyls, epicotyls, and first shoots of the many seedlings observed by us, after they had become straight and erect, circumnutated continuously.
From The Power of Movement in Plants by Darwin, Charles
There can be no doubt that this little plant circumnutated.
From The Power of Movement in Plants by Darwin, Charles
During the first day and night the leaf moved downwards, but circumnutated between 10 A.M. and 4.30 P.M.
From The Power of Movement in Plants by Darwin, Charles
On the third morning they fell very much, and then circumnutated on a small scale round the same spot; by 8.20 P.M. they showed no tendency to rise at night.
From The Power of Movement in Plants by Darwin, Charles
Brassica oleracea: circumnutating movement of the crown of a buried and arched hypocotyl, with the two legs tied together, traced on a horizontal glass during 23 hours.
From The Power of Movement in Plants by Darwin, Charles
In A we see the complex circumnutating course pursued from 11.30 A.M.
From The Power of Movement in Plants by Darwin, Charles
The movement was much more lateral than is usual with circumnutating leaves, and this was the sole peculiarity which it presented.
From The Power of Movement in Plants by Darwin, Charles
On both days the descending course was somewhat zigzag, and this evidently represents the circumnutating movement of the two previous species during the middle of the day.
From The Power of Movement in Plants by Darwin, Charles
Trifolium repens: circumnutating and epinastic movements of the sub-peduncle of a single flower, traced on a vertical glass under a skylight, in A from 11.30 A.M.
From The Power of Movement in Plants by Darwin, Charles
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
